Real Madrid have a fresh batch of fitness concerns, to go along with longer-term injury absentee list. David Alaba suffered an ACL injury at the weekend, and now his season is over. Ferland Mendy was substituted at half-time of the win at Villarreal on Sunday, due to muscular discomfort, and we await news about the severity of his condition, and hence whether he’ll be able to feature or not at Alavés on Thursday night.
Meanwhile the news is better regarding Dani Carvajal, who could play in the midweek La Liga fixture.
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Kickoff: Thurs. Dec. 21, 2023, 8:30 pm, Mendizorroza, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
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I think he’ll train with the team on Tuesday,” manager Carlo Ancelotti said of Carvajal at the weekend.
“I didn’t want to take any risks with Mendy. He felt something in his abductor, so to avoid it getting any worse I preferred to take him off.”
Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Güler and Vinícius Júnior are all also currently sidelined for the long-term. Meanwhile Eder Militão and Thibaut Courtois will be out until at least April or May, if not done for the season entirely.
So with a totally devastating injury crisis in the back line, what will Ancelotti and company do?
Aurélien Tchouaméni, who is back ahead of schedule having recovered rapidly from a broken toe, could be shifted to the back.
“Tchouaméni is the first option we have right now,” Ancelotti continued.
“It isn’t where we see him, but as an emergency — and now it’s an emergency — he can play there… [Academy player] Marvel has trained with us, but he’s injured now. After Christmas we’ll see what we can do.
Ancelotti made it clear, right there in that quote, that Madrid will be busy in the winter window.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.